Caucasian Albanian language

Aghwan
Old Udi
Caucasian Albanian
Native to	Caucasian Albania
Era	6th–8th century CE. Developed into Udi[1]
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Lezgic Samur Eastern Samur Aghwan
Writing system	Caucasian Albanian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xag
Linguist list	xag
Glottolog	aghw1237[2]
A 7th-century column capital with Caucasian Albanian text

Caucasian Albanian, AKA Aghwan or Old Udi, is an extinct member of the Northeast Caucasian languages. It was spoken in Caucasian Albania, which stretched from current day south Dagestan to Azerbaijan. Linguists believe it is an early linguistic predecessor to the endangered North Caucasian Udi language.^[3]

In 1996, Zaza Aleksidze of the Centre of Manuscripts in Tbilisi, Georgia, discovered a palimpsest^[4] at Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai, Egypt, with an unknown script.^[5] He went on to identify the alphabet as Caucasian Albanian,^[6] and to identify the manuscript as an early Christian lectionary from about the 5th or 6th century. The lectionary may be the earliest extant lectionary in the Christian religion.^[7]

Then linguists Jost Gippert and Wolfgang Schulze got involved with the Caucasian Albanian alphabet.^[8] Specialized x-ray equipment with MuSIS was used, which made it possible to read the Caucasian Albanian palimpsest texts in their entirety.^[9] A list of Caucasian Albanian month names, which survived in a number of medieval manuscripts, gave one of the clues to the language.^[8]

Apart from the Caucasian Albanian palimpsests kept at Mt. Sinai, the most famous samples of Caucasian Albanian inscriptions were found in 1949 during excavations in Mingachevir region, Azerbaijan. Among the known Caucasian Albanian words are zow (I), own (and) and avel-om (much, ordinal form).

The deciphered text samples of the language include an excerpt from the Second Epistle to the Corinthians.^[10][11]

Phonology

Consonants

		Plosive		Fricative		Affricate		Approximant	Nasal	Trill
		Regular	Ejective	Regular	Ejective	Regular	Ejective
Bilabial		p b	p’					w	m
Labio-Dental				f v
Alveolar	Regular	t d	t’	s z		ts dz	ts’		n	r
	Palatalized	dʲ	tʲ’			dzʲ			nʲ
Post-Alveolar				ʃ ʒ		tʃ dʒ	tʃ
Alveo-Palatal				ɕ ʑ		tɕ dʑ	tɕ’
Palatal								j
Velar		k g	k’	x ɣ				w
Uvular		q	q’	χ
Pharyngeal				ʕ
Lateral								l

References

1. Aghwan at MultiTree on the Linguist List
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Aghwan". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
3. Zaza Aleksidze, "Udi Language: Comparing Ancient Albanian with Contemporary Udi," in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:3 (Autumn 2003), p. 43.
4. Zaza Aleksidze, "Caucasian Albanian Script: The Significance of Decipherment," Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:3 (Autumn 2003), p. 56.
5. Zaza Aleksidze and Betty Blair, in "Caucasian Albanian Alphabet, Ancient Script Discovered in the Ashes," in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:3 (Autumn 2003), pp. 38-41.
6. Zaza Aleksidze and Betty Blair, "Quick Facts: The Caucasian Albanian Script," Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:3 (Autumn 2003), p. 43.
7. Zaza Aleksidze and Betty Blair, in "The Albanian Script: The Process - How Its Secrets Were Revealed," in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:3 (Autumn 2003), pp. 41-51..
8. Wolfgang Schulze. "Towards a history of Udi" (PDF). Papers of the IFEA Round Table. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
9. Zaza Alexidze (2007). "Discovery and Decipherment of Caucasian Albanian Writing" (PDF). Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
10. See photo of Albanian script of II Corinthians 11:26-27 with its repetition of the phrase - "I was persecuted,", which helped unlock the key to the alphabet for Dr. Aleksidze.
11. Wolfgang Schulze (2003). "Caucasian Albanian - Palimpsest and Inscriptions". Leibniz-Rechenzentrum. Retrieved 2011-01-18.